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Mission Critical: BHP, Rio a step closer to a Resolution?
Resolution Copper - the Rio Tinto-BHP JV sitting on an estimated 40 billion pounds of copper beneath Arizona's Oak Flat - completed a landmark land exchange on 16 March, clearing the single biggest obstacle that has stalled the project since 2014. Catch is, the land is sacred to the San Carlos Apache, the Supreme Court is fielding a last-ditch appeal, and production remains years of permitting and US$500 million in capex away. Last Sunday, the U.S. Forest Service handed over 2,422 acres of federal land near Superior, Arizona, to Resolution Copper, completing a transfer stuck in gridlock since 2014. The development barrier stretches back more than a decade, when the late Senator John McCain attached a land-swap rider to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In return, the JV transferred more than 5,400 acres of environmentally sensitive land containing special status species and Native American cultural sites into National Forests and Conservation Areas. A Ninth Circuit ruling upheld a district court decision a week ago, denying a preliminary injunction that sought to halt the handover on environmental and cultural grounds, clearing the path for the swap to proceed. "This is a remarkable day for both Reso
Mining
BHP Americas copper czar Brandon Craig tapped as next CEO
Brandon Craig, the 25-year company veteran who runs BHP's Americas copper-heavy growth engine, will replace Mike Henry as chief executive on 1 July. BHP Group (ASX: BHP) has named Brandon Craig as its next chief executive, effective 1 July, drawing a line under Mike Henry's six-and-a-half-year tenure atop the world's largest listed miner. Craig, who has been with the company since 1999 and currently serves as President Americas, was selected through a formal board-led succession process overseen by Chairman Ross McEwan. The appointment passed over several publicly tipped candidates - including Australian operations chief Geraldine Slattery, chief financial officer Vandita Pant, and commercial head Ragnar Udd - and landed on the executive most directly responsible for BHP's copper and potash development slate. Craig ran Western Australia Iron Ore before shifting to the Americas in March 2024, where he has overseen the Escondida expansion, advanced the Vicuña copper-gold joint venture in Argentina, and steered the Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan toward its mid-2027 commissioning date. Under his leadership, the resources group lifted red metal guidance for FY2026 and FY2027, targeting around 2.5 million tonnes (t
Mining
Mission Critical: War, oil and a minerals mining cost crunch
Brent crude crossed US$108 a barrel on Monday, capping the largest weekly surge in futures trading history, after the Iran war - now in its ninth day - disrupted roughly 20% of global oil supply, closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and sent stagflation fears rippling through every asset class on the planet. On 28 February - the day before Operation Epic Fury began - the Pentagon asked more than 1,500 companies in the Defence Industrial Base Consortium to submit proposals for projects that could mine, process or recycle 13 critical minerals, with funding of US$100 million to over $500 million per project. The list includes arsenic, bismuth, gadolinium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, nickel, samarium, tungsten, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium and zirconium - materials used in semiconductors, weapons systems and jet engines. The U.S. is reliant on imports for most of them, and China is the dominant producer of all of them. The conflict is now feeding cost inflation into every layer of the Western critical minerals development pipeline, from operating expenditure through to shipping, project capital and the cost of financing.Diesel on the balance sheetDiesel typically accounts for 20% to 40% of an open-pit mine'
Mining
Mission Critical: Billions for Canada’s minerals
For a country that has spent the better part of a decade being told it is sitting on a strategic minerals fortune, Canada has been slow to deploy capital at scale, and at the world's largest mining conference in Toronto this week, the government moved to close that gap. Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson tabled a C$2 billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund, a $1.5 billion First and Last Mile Fund, and 30 new international partnerships unlocking $12.1 billion in project capital across 12 allied nations. A joint declaration with Greenland on minerals cooperation was signed, and Prime Minister Carney's bilateral visit to New Delhi produced a memorandum of understanding with India on battery and defence metals value chains, while the European Investment Bank added a letter of intent for Canadian project co-operation. Total firepower mobilised under the Critical Minerals Production Alliance now sits at roughly $18.5 billion.Sovereign fund logicThe centrepiece of Ottawa's push is the Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund, which will deploy equity stakes, loan guarantees and offtake agreements - instruments Natural Resources Canada has not previously used at scale - with an initial mandate covering six commodities: copper, nickel,
Mining
Pentagon-backed MP picks Texas for rare earth hub
The United States currently imports around 10,000 tonnes of rare earth magnets a year from China - a number that has sat quietly in the background of every defence procurement meeting, EV strategy session and semiconductor briefing for the better part of a decade. MP Materials (NYSE: MP) intends to change that. The company has selected a 120-acre site in Northlake, Texas, for its "10X" rare earth magnet manufacturing campus, committing more than US$1.25 billion to what it is calling the largest and most strategically significant rare earth magnet asset in U.S. history. Once operational, 10X is expected to push MP's total output to approximately 10,000 metric tons of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets per year - the permanent magnets used in EV motors, wind turbines, defence systems and advanced semiconductor fabrication equipment. The campus sits less than 10 miles from MP's existing Independence facility in Fort Worth, giving the company access to shared infrastructure from day one and cementing North Texas as the geographic anchor of the domestic magnet supply chain.Pentagon locked in for the long run10X is the centrepiece of MP's public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of War, struck in July 2025. T

Mining
Copper push underpins Rio Tinto’s post-merger strategy
Staring at the embers of a failed marriage with long-term suitor, Glencore (GLNCY), has given recently appointed CEO of Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) Siom Trott time to reflect on what’s in store for Australia’s second largest miner. While potential nuptials between Glencore and Rio were always framed as a merger, the market never saw it as anything but a takeover, with Rio’s market cap being more than double that of its Switzerland-based counterpart. Having seemingly moved on from its unrequited romance with Glencore – which Trott worked so hard to get over the line - Rio has pivoted towards a stronger, sharper, simpler solo strategy, and for this - most of the market appears truly grateful. While Glencore CEO Gary Nagle appears to want to keep the door open for a future Rio Tinto merger, that doesn’t appear to be something investors – sceptical about the value of a Glencore merger from the start - or Rio management are now willing to entertain right now. Since both companies confirmed on 5 February that weeks of negotiations had collapsed – with plans for a potential US$260 billion mining giant shattered – Rio’s share price rose to a record high of $170.19 on 13 February. While Rio remains open to acquisitions, it has
Mining
Rio Tinto expands integrated lithium vision
Following successive equity injections by both parties over the past year, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) has officially taken majority control of Canada’s Nemaska Lithium, lifting its stake to 53.9% with plans to build a mine-to-chemicals lithium chain in Quebec. While the Quebec government – which retains 46.1% through its investment arm, Investissement Québec - has committed up to a further US$200 million via share subscriptions, Rio plans to spend more than US$300 million in 2026 expanding its lithium footprint in the province. Underpinning the strategy is vertical integration with plans to control each step of production from rock to battery material. That means mining spodumene, a lithium-bearing hard rock, and refining it into lithium hydroxide, a high-purity chemical used in electric vehicle batteries. Rio Tinto Aluminium & Lithium CEO Jérôme Pécresse told the market that the miner’s activities in Québec play an important role in its ambition to take our world-class lithium business to the next level of growth and performance, notably through Nemaska Lithium. “This evolution will facilitate the achievement of this objective and enable us to better support the long-term development of Nemaska Lithium, which will ex
Mining
BHP copper earnings tops iron ore in milestone
The Big Australian has posted a milestone set of half-year numbers. For the first time since BHP created its copper segment in FY13, the red metal contributed the majority of group earnings - overtaking iron ore as the profit engine of the world's largest miner and officially signalling to the world the age of electrification.By the numbers:Underlying attributable profit rose 22% to US$6.2 billion for the six months ended 31 December 2025, in line with Visible Alpha consensus. EBITDA swelled 25% to $15.5 billion on a 58.4% margin - up seven percentage points on the prior corresponding period. Revenue advanced 11% to $27.9 billion, propelled by a 32% spike in average realised copper prices to $5.28 per pound (lb) and a 4% nudge higher in iron ore to $84.71 per wet metric tonne (wmt).Copper seizes the crownThe crossover to copper becoming king has been building for years, but two forces brought it to a head this half - record pricing and sustained volume growth. Copper EBITDA vaulted 59% to a record $8 billion on a 66% segment margin, while iron ore's $7.5 billion expanded a far more pedestrian 4%.Source: Azzet / BHPBHP has ratcheted copper output roughly 30% over four years, with FY26 group guidance now tightened upward to
Mining
Why GlenTinto remains the mining dream that won't wake up
Alas, the proposed US$260 billion mega merger between Rio Tinto and Glencore remains just a dream. It again promised to reshape global mining, but a decade-long courtship has repeatedly collapsed under the weight of antitrust exposure, valuation gaps, cultural clashes and ESG baggage. "Global miner Rio Tinto will not be taken over by rival Glencore because there is no value in it for shareholders and regulators will never let it happen," then-CEO Sam Walsh told reporters in late 2014. When talks were finally torched again in 2026, Rio's board reverted to the same core message: it could not land terms that delivered returns in a way that justified the complexity and downside. This piece traces the saga chronologically: from Glencore's first 2014 overture and Walsh's emphatic rejection, through a brutal downturn that made boards wary of blockbuster deals, to the latest cycle of 2024-26 negotiations driven by copper demand and the energy transition. Along the way, remarks from CEOs, chairmen and prominent sell-side voices show how each side viewed the tie-up as simultaneously logical and structurally unworkable. Where Rio saw a threat to its governance premium and ESG profile, Glencore saw a transformative path to re-r